That's where these free Word resume templates come in. Turning a blank document into an attractive, well-designed resume is hard work, especially when you'd rather put that time to use in your job search. This means avoiding overly wordy sentences and abbreviations where appropriate Make your resume easy to read, for robots and humans.Ensure all your important information is in the body of your resume Some ATS software can’t read data in the header or footer.Save your resume as a PDF (you can easily export as PDF once you’ve edited your Word resume template).Don’t overdo this, as resumes with a high match can be flagged for gaming the system Incorporate keywords and phrases used in the job description.Here are some ways to ensure your resume is ATS-friendly: Writing a resume that is ATS optimized is imperative, as you could potentially miss out on opportunities even if you’re qualified. This software is called an Applicant Tracking System and it sorts, scans, and ranks job applications that come through to a recruiter or employer.ĪTS helps recruiters filter through candidates by scanning for relevant information and keywords in an application. If you’re applying for a job, there is a very high chance that the resume will first be seen by some software before it makes its way to a pair of human eyes.
Use powerful verbs to describe your work (e.g “amplified”, “executed”, “maximized”).Include non-academic and non-professional experiences, such as volunteer work or side projects.Use data specific examples where possible (e.g.Triple check your resume for grammar, punctuation, and spelling.Include keywords from the job description in your resume where it fits organically.Optimize your resume for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).Highlight your most relevant experience, skills, and accomplishments.Tailor your resume to each job you apply to.This also applies if you’ve been out of the job market for a while and haven’t had to edit your resume recently.īefore you sprint ahead to the templates, here are some resume dos and don’ts you should know. Secondly, it gives first-time job applicants a better idea of how much to write and the sections to focus on. Firstly, it allows you to spend more time polishing up the content instead of worrying about the layout and design. Resume templates are handy tools for job seekers for a number of reasons.